


December 1st: The Days After Christmas

by NimueOfTheNorth



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: All the Weasleys live, Break Up, Christmas, Light Ginny bashing, Multi, ProfilersForChristmas2018, Song fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-05 03:42:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16802950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NimueOfTheNorth/pseuds/NimueOfTheNorth
Summary: Ginny tried to pretend she was living the perfect big romance over Christmas, now Harry gets to watch it all fall apart.





	December 1st: The Days After Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [FA_ProfilersForChristmas2018](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/FA_ProfilersForChristmas2018) collection. 



> Welcome to the third round of our prompt based Advent Calendar! This year, we're stretching our wings a little by opening up to all fandoms if the writers feel so inclined. To tie it together in a different way, all prompts are Christmas Songs of some description.
> 
> From today on right through to the 24th, a bunch of us will again present you with one short little story about and around Christmas every day. Knowing the authors participating (both returning and new), I'm sure there will be fluff, smut and angst, but everybody promised to honour the happy endings rule, so lets hope for the best.  
> Stories will be posted anonymously and the authors' names revealed on the 25th.  
> If you'd like to keep track of all the stories, I hope everybody remembers to add the tag ProfilersForChristmas2018, so that might be the easiest way.
> 
> Whatever you're celebrating, I hope you have a wonderful festive season with your loved ones.
> 
> Enjoy the stories!
> 
> Story Note: My prompt was The Twelve Days AFTER Christmas. I took a bit of a liberal and selective approach to it but I think it's still recognisable. If you (like me) hadn't heard of this song before, this is my favourite version I found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MgmT5pH5bc

Harry enjoyed a quiet cup of tea looking out the kitchen window over a slowly awakening Ottery St Catchpole. He quite liked this idea of all the Weasley grandchildren having a sleepover at the Burrow on Christmas Eve. At seven, Teddy hadn’t outgrown his excitement about Christmas yet and normally, Harry would have been woken up by his son jumping onto his bed or likely his stomach. This was much nicer.

With a sigh, he finished off his tea and sat the cup into the sink. The morning would have been even more enjoyable if he hadn’t spent it alone but he couldn’t change that fact. He got dressed and headed across the street to the Burrow to see if Molly and Arthur needed some help wrangling ten kids until everyone arrived for breakfast.

“Morning, Molly. Merry Christmas!”

"Merry Christmas, Harry!" She left her bowl of batter being mixed in favour of hugging him. "Arthur is in the living room. Oh, before you go, do you mind putting the expansion charm on the kitchen? Arthur already did the living room, and you know how rooms tend to fuse together if one person enlarges adjacent rooms."

She turned away to inspect a board where various fruits were being chopped, and Harry dutifully did his assigned chore.

He found Arthur on one of the couches with the Prophet of the day before.

“This is nice and quiet, almost suspiciously so. I had expected to walk into mayhem.”

“Oh, we had our share of that already this morning,” Arthur chuckled. “Molly gave the kids hot chocolate and one biscuit each and then shooed them into the garden to occupy themselves until breakfast. The things a grandparent can get away with on Christmas.”

Harry had sat down beside him and now craned his head so he could look out the window. It looked like the kids were having a snowball fight. He was almost tempted to join them but decided it was probably better not to disturb the status quo and remind them of the mountain of gifts stashed underneath the tree.

“Ginny firecalled last night,” Arthur changed the topic. “She’s bringing someone.”

“That’s rather short notice. I didn’t even know she was seeing someone.”

“No, we neither. Molly is getting her hopes up that this is somebody special and that she’s finally settling down. I think it’s more about her not wanting to be the only one single at the party today, now that even Charlie is married.”

“Yeah, and wasn’t that a surprise. He was always so adamantly against the idea. I’m still curious how Aristide finally convinced him.”

"I believe that was actually Aurelia. Last year at Christmas, she asked if she could call us grandma and grandpa, just like she did her papa's parents. I happened to look at Charlie at that moment, and the shock of realisation just how far he got himself into that little family already was obvious. Charlie always wanted the chance to just walk away from a partner if he felt trapped but he could never walk away from his stepdaughter. The rest became a formality in his mind."

The flames in the fireplace turned green at that point, and Percy and Penelope started a long stream of people arriving either via floo or apparition. One of the children must have noticed them through the window as they all came barraging in through the backdoor with loud hello to hug their respective parents. This was more what Harry had expected, and he smiled at the friendly chaos until a small body collided with his, head meeting his stomach.

“Oomph. Good thing I haven’t eaten yet, Teddy. Merry Christmas! Did you have fun with your cousins?”

"Yes! We had popcorn, and a pillow fight, and Aurelia and Victoire told us fairy tales! It was the bestest Christmas Eve ever! Will Draco be here?"

"No, it doesn't look like it. I talked to him last night for a little bit, and he didn't think he'd make it today. But he told me to give you an extra big Christmas hug from him."

Hugging a kid fresh in from a snowball fight inevitably got you wet, but Harry couldn't imagine ever not hugging Teddy as long as he allowed it. Looking around the room, he could see most of the others in a similar state. Percy's children had of course very orderly waited for their parents to cast a drying and cleaning charm on them first. Harry couldn't fault Percy for his parenting, but he also wasn't about to emulate it. He simply didn't have good memories of a spotless house and had henceforth no desire to have one himself.

"Can we open presents now?" One kid asked, and the others predictably joined in on the demand in a heartbeat.

“Breakfast first!” came Molly’s bellow from the kitchen doorway. “And how do you lot even look? You all know where the boots and coats go and I should chastise all your parents for apparently forgetting how to apply drying charms! Chop, chop!”

Harry cleaned up Teddy and then shot another charm at the back of one of Fred’s twins - he couldn’t tell from behind whether it was Sophie or Sonia - as she darted away from her parents. As the kids trotted off to put their outerwear away, a few more charms made sure the living room was back to its clean and cosy state from before.

Once everyone was settled around the ridiculously full breakfast table, it was hard to miss that there were two chairs still empty.

“Oh, I thought Ginny and her boyfriend had arrived with the rest of you,” Molly said a little crestfallen.

“Fashionably late,” George coughed into his hand in a poor attempt to hide what he was saying and earned himself a glare from his mother.

Any further reprimand was cut off by the front door opening again.

“Hello, everyone! Merry Christmas!” Ginny breathed into the kitchen. “Oh. You haven’t started without us already, have you?”

“We were just about to start, actually. The kids are hungry. They’ve been up for quite a while, waiting for everyone to arrive,” Arthur told her.

Ginny just sorta waved his explanation off. “Anyway, this is Quentin.” She pulled the young man towards her with an exaggerated smile.

“Welcome to the Burrow, Quentin,” Arthur held out his hand in greeting but left the name hanging as a question, asking for the last name Ginny hadn’t provided.

"Breckinridge, Sir. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr Weasley. My thanks for offering me your hospitality on a day dedicated to family, Mrs Weasley. I apologise for our late arrival - we were delayed."

The man sounded cultivated but definitely not British, Harry’s guess would have been US east coast. He shared a look with Hermione across from him at the little pause he put before _delayed_. They both had a very specific idea about who had been responsible for that delay.

Meanwhile Ginny was shooing Aurelia out of her seat beside Victoire to go sit beside Rose instead so that there would be two chairs side by side for her and Quentin.

Breakfast soon turned into the usual lively affair that any Weasley family meal became given the slightest chance. While the adults caught up with one another after the hectic time of preparation for the holidays, the children were chatting excitedly about what they hoped they’d find under the tree. It made it decidedly difficult for Ginny to be heard by more than the people closest to her as she praised Quentin to the skies.

The man in question seemed rather uncomfortable with what she was doing and engaged in polite conversation whenever somebody addressed him, complimented Molly’s food, and otherwise acted a lot less pretentious than his name and clothes would let you expect. Harry kept half an ear on Ginny and her current beau but gladly used the hubbub to ignore Ginny’s attempts to talk to him.

Eventually, not even Ron could pretend he wasn't done with his breakfast, and the children were allowed to storm the living room and start sorting all the presents into piles for everyone. The adults stayed back for a moment longer to avoid the risk of getting caught in the maelstrom and receiving a pointy elbow anywhere sensitive.

They were all sitting on the various couches and chairs, most of them transfigured and watched the children take turns in opening their gifts, admiring what the others got.

Hermione left Harry’s side in favour of her significant other, Paul, and it took less than thirty seconds for Ginny to drop into the open seat.

“So, could Draco not be bothered to join the family this year? Did he have somewhere better to be? Or is there trouble in paradise?”

Harry sighed internally at her gloating tone but knew better than to rise to her bait. "Everything is fine, thanks for asking. Draco received an emergency call from Canada the day before yesterday. Some careless idiot cultivated a new species of witch's nightshade in a forest close to a magical ski resort. A group of playing children stumbled upon it and fell ill. They were lucky to make it back to the resort, or they might have frozen to death before they had even been missed. When the normal cure didn't show any results, they called far and wide for experts to help come up with something new. Because of his well-published work with Neville when it comes to experimental plants, Draco was high on their list and immediately took an international portkey."

Ginny was saved from replying to that by Teddy coming over and proudly showing off the rather advanced astronomy book Hermione had got him. Harry would much rather admire the book with his son than indulging in Ginny's nonsense. He knew very well which angle she was working, it was hardly news that she still hoped the two of them would eventually end up together, nevermind the nice guy she'd dragged along for today.

Once the kids had converted all the presents into semi-neat piles of gifts and a huge mess of wrapping paper and string, it was the adults’ turn. Harry’s generation had decided years ago that it would be a lot less hassle if they arranged a Yule club of sorts between them, so each had only one person to buy for among the siblings, honorary siblings and in-laws. That only left one’s spouse or partner, and Molly and Arthur for everyone. The smaller number of overall gifts also meant that it didn’t take ages for everyone to take their turn at opening them.

Everyone, of course, expressed their thanks for their gifts including some spontaneous hugs but they all tried to keep it short before the kids lost their patience for gift opening that they could only watch. The only one who completely ignored that unspoken agreement was Ginny.

She went through the gifts from her parents and Charlie, who’d gotten her in the draw that year, with the bare minimum of proper thanks only to turn into a well of gushing excitement when opening her gifts from Quentin. Harry didn’t even think they were that great gifts and by some of the looks thrown her way by the others, they thought so too.

The music box with glittering swans moving across a pond was lovely craftsmanship if a bit too kitsch for Harry's taste and the silver necklace with two turtle doves as a pendant was cute but neither overly expensive nor personal. The gifts actually spoke of someone who wanted to be nice and romantic but didn't know the person they were gifting all that well and thus seemed to be a very good representation of the state of Ginny's relationship with Quentin. Meanwhile, she acted like they were declarations of the deepest and most devoted love.

Harry took to watching Quentin and seeing the man get ever more uncomfortable at Ginny’s antics wondered how he’d ended up accompanying her today.

The children growing restless finally put an end to the whole theatre and everything broke up into smaller groups of conversation and playing with the kids as Molly fetched plates of biscuits, hot chocolate and eggnog. Ginny was pouting, and Harry was glad to see that Hermione was chatting with Quentin for the moment. He himself soon found his lap full of the large and heavy astronomy book with Teddy squeezed into his side wanting help with all the big and complicated words.

After a huge holiday meal for a late lunch, Charlie, George and Angelina took the kids outside to burn off more of their energy with snowman building and probably another snowball fight. Harry was bundled up as well to get some fresh air but stuck to the porch rather than join the snow sculpting efforts. It didn’t take long until Hermione appeared at his side.

“I can’t believe how big they all are already. Makes me feel old,” she groaned.

“We’re not old, Mione, we just grew up quicker than we should have and then got an early start at having our own families. Do you and Paul have any ambitions to give Rose a little sibling?” he teased, knowing that Rose hadn’t been planned but had come about after a weird reaction to fumes Hermione had breathed in during her experimentation for her research had negated her contraceptive. She’d still come to love her little girl pretty much from the moment the healer confirmed the pregnancy.

“Not any time soon. I don’t think I could get a second child out of wedlock past my gran without giving her a heart attack. But at some point, yeah, that would be nice.”

“So, what’s Quentin like and how did he get dragged into Ginny’s little drama?”

"I think he's a nice guy, bit formal, but he certainly doesn't deserve this and had no idea what Ginny was up to. He's a junior partner for a big New York law office and was sent over here to help establish their European offices in London and Rome. He and Ginny met at a charity event and flirting turned into a couple of dates. He just figured dating a beautiful and successful Quidditch player that wasn't a complete airhead would be fun and would introduce him into social circles his firm could profit from. They were having fun, and now he finds himself in this family dynamic twilight zone."

Harry snorted. "That's a good way to describe it. I wish Draco were here to watch it. His commentary would be epic."

“Still in Canada? Are they making any progress?”

“He was mildly optimistic last night. They had come up with a potion that at least stabilised the kids and following along that same track, they are hoping to find a cure for their condition.”

“That’s good. You know he’s one of the best when it comes to medicinal potion making. Say about Snape what you want, but he did an excellent job nurturing Draco’s talent, and his dedication to his healer training is only making him better in his chosen field.”

"Yeah, I'm very proud of his accomplishments, even if it sometimes takes him away from me at inopportune times." He snapped his wand out of its holster and wordlessly suspended two large snowballs in mid-air where they had been flying directly at Hermione and him. Looked like the snowmen were as done as they would ever get. "Should we allow such impertinence to go unchecked, Hermione?"

“Not at all. The fight is on!”

* * *

The next morning, Harry got to enjoy yet another peaceful cup of tea as Teddy was still sleeping off the long evening of playing off the inevitable Christmas sugar high. This morning, however, the view was a little less tranquil.

Ginny and Quentin had stayed the night at the Burrow while everybody else had gone home to put their children to bed. Now, the two of them were arguing in the little stretch of garden running alongside the Burrow to the back, and while Harry couldn't hear a word of what it was about, he could clearly see that Ginny was furious while Quentin looked more exasperated and on the defensive.

"Hmmm, proper tea." Draco's arms snaked around Harry's waist, and one hand snatched up the cup for a sip, even though Draco liked his with a bit of sugar where Harry drank his unsweetened. He'd felt his arrival in the wards, so he wasn't startled.

“Welcome home. Are the kids all doing well?”

"Yes. Once we got them stabilised, we only needed to play around with the concentrations and prepare one ingredient a little differently, and they will all make a full recovery with some rest to replenish their magical reserves." He stepped over to the teapot to top off Harry's cup and get one doctored to his liking.

Harry accepted the cup but sat it aside in favour of pulling Draco into a proper embrace that would allow them to kiss. He could feel the exhaustion in Draco's muscles after brewing relentlessly on minimal sleep for the last few days and would send him off to bed in a moment. But some languid reconnecting was in order first.

“So, what’s that all about then?” Draco asked after they pulled apart, gesturing over to the Burrow.

“Don’t know exactly, but it looks like the great big love story Ginny tried to sell to us all is rapidly falling apart.”

“Did she try to make you jealous again?”

“Pretty sure that was at least part of her plan.”

Harry had twisted enough to the side to see the spectacle across the street again without giving up his hold on Draco.

“Woaw! That seems a bit excessive.” It was indeed as Mrs Weasley’s favourite pear tree had just caught on fire as Ginny was stomping her foot.

“I always wonder why it is famous as the Weasley temper when they all clearly inherited it from Molly. Arthur is one of the most laid back people I’ve ever met,” Draco said in a musing tone. He’d long since stopped rising to Ginny’s various attempts to insert herself back into Harry’s life and everything that came with that.

They both watched Quentin cast an extinguishing charm around the tree as Ginny stomped off like that had nothing to do with her. Harry made a mental note to ask Neville what they could do to help the tree recover so it would carry it’s delicious pears again during the next summer.

"I need a shower and some sleep." Draco drained his cup and set it into the sink. "I had hoped to see Teddy before that, but I'm dead on my feet. Will you come and tuck me in?" Harry laughed at the innuendo Draco had no hope of following through on.

"Of course, I will. Now off with you, before you get so sleepy, you fall over in the shower."

* * *

Harry had taken Teddy to a park in London that had ice rinks, with one being set aside for children and families, so that he wouldn’t wake up Draco. Dinner had been their traditional Boxing Day visit to Narcissa’s London flat and had brought on more gifts for Teddy.

With Christmas officially over, Harry had gone back to work, manning Ollivander's shop for the morning. If he passed his exams at the beginning of summer, he would have completed his apprenticeship as a wandmaker, and he knew he'd earned Garrick's trust when it came to his craft. There wasn't overly much to do around the end of the year, and Garrick closed up the workshop for that week altogether, so Harry and the other employees could work minimal hours and take turns to keep the shop open.

Draco had taken the whole week off from his research and studying, and so Harry came home to his two favourite men on the living room floor, with pre-shaped pieces of balsa wood spread all around them and the beginnings of a medieval castle put together. It was one of Narcissa's Christmas gifts for Teddy to go with his collection of knights.

“I guess that means I’m making lunch,” he said in lieu of a greeting and left them to it. With all the leftovers Molly and Narcissa had forced on them, there wasn’t much to do but set the table and pick out what needed to be eaten first.

They were just done with lunch when the yelling started outside.

Harry sent Teddy back to his building project because he didn't want him to hear what Ginny might come up with in a temper. Seeing the poor Quentin standing in the street taking her verbal abuse, apparently unwilling to lay into her in the same manner, made Harry step outside. He knew firsthand that Ginny didn't always stick to words when she got really mad.

“... and you could really try to be a little less boring and show more interest in me!” was the tail end of her tirade Harry caught.

The next moment, she had ripped the necklace Quentin had given her off and threw it at his feet, where Harry now noticed the detritus of what he assumed had been the little music box.

“And you can keep your cheap little trinkets. They aren’t impressing anyone. We’re through, love,” she finished her voice dripping with sarcasm. She then turned on the spot and apparated away.

Quentin cast a reparo on the music box and picked both items up from the ground with more care than Harry would have expected. He saw Arthur approach from the other side and joined them both in the street.

"I feel like I should apologise for my daughter's behaviour," Arthur said with a sigh.

"Not at all, Mr Weasley. She's a grown woman, and you and your wife have been nothing but kind to me over the last few days. Thank you for letting me experience a traditional British family Christmas and welcoming me into your home on such short notice." He flipped open the music box, and both the music and the movements of the swans were perfectly working again. He closed it and held it out to Arthur. "Here, I believe little Dominique was quite enamoured with the swans, so maybe you could pass it on to someone who it will bring joy to. It has a small hidden compartment in the bottom, I think that's something young girls enjoy." He slipped the necklace into his pocket and held out his hand for Arthur to shake goodbye and then turned to Harry.

“It was very nice meeting you, Harry.”

"Pleasure was all mine. Should I apologise because she's doing this kind of shenanigans partially because of me?" he asked with a wry smile.

"You are no more responsible for her behaviour and delusions than her father. I don't even know why she was so upset that we were falling apart. We've only known each other for a few weeks and were by no means each other's true love. I think she fell for her own lie. Anyway, I hope you'll have a good start into the new year. Please give my regards to your wife," he added turning back to Arthur before he too apparated away.

Arthur and Harry stood there looking at each other for a moment and in the end just shrugged. There wasn’t much to say about Ginny at this point.

Harry returned to the house where Draco was waiting for him in the open door, humming.

“If you start singing that blasted song right now, we’ll have a proper true love’s fight, just so you know.”

Draco laughed and pulled him close. “No fighting. I’ll stick to Crosby and Sinatra, promise. Wanna help us build the castle’s tower?”

“Yes, Papa! Come and help us!” Teddy yelled from the living room. And that was exactly how they spent their afternoon.


End file.
